ALLENDALE, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team defeated Grand Valley State University tonight (Feb. 2), 57-50. The Cardinals improve to 5-15 overall and 3-10 in the conference, while the Lakers fall to 9-11 on the season and 6-7 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Both teams struggled early on in the contest before Samantha Zirzow (Goodrich, Mich.) put the first points on the board at the 17:19 mark to give SVSU the 2-0 edge.
The Saginaw Valley lead would increase to 15-9 with five minutes to go in the first half as Meijer "Player of the Game" Kayla Womack (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./North HS) cut to the basket for two points.
The Cardinals entered the locker room with a 23-17 advantage, while holding GVSU to just 21 percent shooting in the first half. Womack led the Cardinals with nine points in the first half.
Womack continued her strong play in the second half as she gave SVSU a 25-17 advantage with another aggressive move to the hoop at the 16:55 mark of the second half.
Grand Valley could not find an answer for Kayla Womack as she connected from three-point land with 4:08 to go in the contest to stretch the SVSU lead to 43-31.
Womack finished the contest with a career-high 27 points on 9-of-19 shooting including 3-for-6 from beyond the arc and 6-for-10 from the charity stripe.
The Lakers would come within five points inside the final 30 seconds, but it was too late as the Cardinals picked up the 57-50 victory.
The victory gives Saginaw Valley their first two-game win streak in conference play. The Cardinals have stepped up their game defensively holding their last four opponents to 50 points or less.
The Cardinals now rank first in the GLIAC in three-point field goal defense (.289) and second in field goal defense (.370).
Kristen Greene (Brown City, Mich) recorded 14 points and six rebounds in the victory, while Grace Herzog (Linden, Mich./Powers Catholic HS) posted five points, ten rebounds and seven blocks. Herzog, the nation's leading shot blocker, has tallied 78 blocks on the season and is now five shy of her own school record (82).
The Cardinals will try to make it three straight victories in the GLIAC as they return to action on Saturday (Feb. 4) at Ferris State for a 1:00 pm start.